We plan to do a Fall road trip (2nd week of Oct'19) from NYC to Acadia in 3 days and then spend 4 days in Acadia before driving straight back home to NYC. During these 3 days from NYC to Acadia, we do not plan to make many stops (other than food, restroom, and gas). Just plan to soak up the Fall colors while driving, stop for a quick view wherever we feel like and then drive along.
I should have checked this board before making hotel bookings (non-refundable). For this trip, we will spend more time getting there than actually being there. We will make notes of the places to research more for a longer stay in the future. We are ONLY interested in nature during this trip.

For Day 1, Sunday, we plan to drive in VT and end the day in Lincoln, NH. We plan to start around 5am (we are early risers) from NYC, so we will be in Bennington by 9am at the most via Route 22 in NY. It will be sunrise by the time we hit Route 22.

I have mapped 2 options on Google Maps, preview.tinyurl com / y2366wv9 (pls remove spaces, won't let me post a link until 5 posts) Total driving will be 10 hours for the day, shared between me and wife. After reading a few travel guides these are the routes I came up with. Both routes meet at Pawlet, VT (if the map doesn't display like that). Pawlet, VT onwards, both the routes are the same. Killington, VT to Lincoln, NH trip will be after the sunset. If we get too tired to drive or feel like spending more time at one place, we will skip the remaining routing points and head straight to the hotel for the night.

Will really appreciate if those who are familiar with these areas can comment
- Which of the planned route makes more sense to enjoy maximum fall colors
- Should we drop a certain route and take another more scenic route instead, esp if it is going to non-touristy. We seriously want to try to avoid the crowd (our rest of the year experience is more than enough).
- Does the directionality of the route look OK? (Initially, I had planned to drive from Brattleboro, VT to Bennington, VT) but Ackislander mentioned on one of the threads that westbound, the direction I planned earlier, is just hills but eastbound is scenic. Thanks, Ackislander )
- Option 2 specific question. I really want to take the middle of the forest route between Landgrove, VT and Mt Tabor, VT. Google maps allows me to take the route but Garmin says this is an unpaved road. Google satellite view isn't very clear. Can anyone comment if this is really an unpaved road?

Thanks a lot in advance. I welcome all route suggestions. As I said, the goal is only nature.

(P.S. - I am going to keep checking the other threads on this topic)

Link to your map

2nd week of Oct the Berkshires of western MA will have great color as well. Depending on the exact dates and how the color is progressing north to south your best color may in fact be in MA or southern VT as opposed to further north.

From NYC you could take the Saw Mill to the Taconic parkway to I90 then either NY Rt 22 north, or in MA Rt 7 north towards Bennington - the ride up the Taconic will be nice.

Once you get to Bennington you can take stock of your day. To me "nature" means being out in it, not driving by as much of it as you can - so to me it seems you have too much driving. The beauty of the fall foliage is not necessarily logging more miles but rather soaking in the experience. That includes walking through woods and hearing the crunch of fall leaves under your foot. If it's a nice day then you may be better off cutting off the zig zag across southern Vermont. If you take Rt 7 through Pittsfield you'll go right past Mt. Greylock. If the Berkshires have great color then driving to the top for a picnic and short hike around the summit may be a better use of your time.

From Bennington I would go east toward Brattleboro to meet up with VT 100 and take that road north to the point where you want to cross over to New Hampshire.

Maybe this website will answer your question about Langrove to Mt Tabor route Longing for the Dirtroads of Landgrove, Vermont Sounds good to me and we might have been on those roads. A well maintained dirt road is fine so it depends on how good a road agent they have. We've lived on a dirt road. October travel shouldn't be a problem.

I agree with J62 that walking in the woods is a good idea. Or just getting out of the car and smelling the air. I respectfully suggest you relax about your route but Lincoln NH second week of October might be past peak. Since it's just a stop to getting someplace else, no big deal. Fall color is a long progression. Great color can get busted by a heavy rain. Not great color is usually improved by a great experience, perhaps sighting a flock of wild turkeys. If you're lucky you will drive past an orchard where they are making cider. The smell is heavenly. Your route takes you thru Norwich VT which is a very pretty small town and home to King Arthur Flour.
I'm guessing from Lincoln NH to Acadia you are going to take a northern route that goes past Sunday River Ski Area. We did that one summer when aiming for the Blue Hill Penninsula. It was a lovely ride but very rural. Know where you can stop for lunch.

J62 , Thank you for linking the map.

I agree. Berkshires will be beautiful around that time. We have made a few weekend trips around Berkshire last year. This is the first time I managed to get a week off from work so thought we would try places farther and decide upon places we can visit over a long weekend in the future.

I agree with your definition of nature. Last year when we were returning from Lake Placid, we found a riverside spot on the way. We just walked by the riverside for almost an hour. That was the best tranquil experience of that trip. We will certainly do that in the future. We don't want to exhaust ourselves on Day 1 as we plan to do a few hikes in Acadia.

Thank you Michael .

dfrostnh , Thank you for the link. I actually came across Happy Vermont website but didn't occur that I should search there. Looks like that route is drivable. The pictures on the website are really good. Maybe this is the place where we could walk for some time. we will probably not be able to do the complete route as I would really like to stop by some of the covered bridges.

A question, if Lincoln, NH colors will be past peak in 2nd week of Oct (6th to 12th), wouldn't Acadia be the same?

We would definitely like to stop by an orchard making a cider. I will search if there are orchards close to either route we will take. Thanks for the tip.

I am going to search more about Norwich, VT. This name appeared far more often than any other on this board.

I will make another post about a day in NH. We were planning to take route 2 but our 11YO wanted to take a look at 'as many lighthouses as possible' so we dropped the idea.

I think that Acadia being on the coast doesn't get color as early as NH mountains.
Norwich is probably frequently mentioned because I mention it a lot. A few of us have twice arranged a private baking class at King Arthur Flour. It's also a special place in our family history since my FIL used to deliver apples to Dan and Whit's General Store many many years ago when the family owned an apple orchard here in NH.
We haven't visited this orchard in Lebanon NH but it might qualify for sweet smelling. FarnumHillCiders.com - Home Hopefully they sell fresh cider as well as hard cider. An orchard near us sometimes has more than one flavor of cider depending on what variety of apple they press. Read the story behind the orchard. The 70s saw the death of many New England orchards. At least the one in our family did not get developed but is now owned by someone who raises Black Angus cattle.

Acadia also is more of a spruce/fir forest compared to the expansive hardwood (oak/maple/beech) forests that cover much of New England. So less fall color, period.

Thank you both of you for the input.
dfrostnh Farnum Hill Cider seems to be selling hard cider only. I will look for other orchards making ciders over the weekend and put one of them in our itinerary.

A note about cider.... let me rephrase dfrost's statement in my own view.

If you're lucky you will drive past an orchard where they are making donuts. The smell is heavenly. A jug of fresh, cold cider is the perfect accompaniment to a half dozen hot, fresh plain, sugar, or cinnamon donuts.

Like these - just south of Bennington...
http://theapplebarn.com/

I know there's one near Kripalu / Tanglewood in the Berkshires if you're in that area - we seem to find it "by accident" whenever we drive through that region, and many others scattered here and there.
Search for "apples" along your route - that's how you find them (or follow your nose).

LOL J62, while the smell of cider donuts is wonderful, it's the smell of cider pressing that we love. There was an orchard near Hollis NH that you could smell from a few miles away. Perhaps modern methods don't allow fragrance to travel far. I've seen pressing demos at Cold Hollow Farm, Waterbury VT. The two orchards near us make cider but don't seem to be that fragrant. But, fresh cider tastes the best.
Camden ME is supposed to be very colorful. We love the view from the top of Mt. Battie but we're usually there in summer when you can sometimes see windjammers coming along the coast.
This might help but it seems the internet is thinking cider like the English which around here we call hard cider.
https://ciderguide.com/vermont-cider-map-directory/